


no ballad will be written, it will be entirely forgotten (and if tomorrow it’s all over, at least we had it for a moment)

by fiveyaaas



Series: In Another Life [4]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Abusive Leonard Peabody, Abusive Reginald Hargreeves, Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Blood and Gore, Complicated Relationships, Cunnilingus, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Established Relationship, F/M, Forced Marriage, Human Dolores (Umbrella Academy), Misogyny, Multi, Murder, Oral Sex, Polyamory, Pregnancy, Pseudo-Incest, Smut, Threesome - F/F/M, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, a lot of it, well sorta
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:29:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27607652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fiveyaaas/pseuds/fiveyaaas
Summary: Their family would stay intact, and they would do whatever it took to ensure that.
Relationships: Dolores/Number Five | The Boy/Vanya Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy/Vanya Hargreeves
Series: In Another Life [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1868005
Comments: 2
Kudos: 34





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [soitgoes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/soitgoes/gifts).



> This is for Bri!!!! Who has accepted to do three fic exchanges with me 😱!!!! I appreciate her fics a lot, and I KNOW I’m going to appreciate what she’s working on for the exchanges 😭😭😭!!!! 
> 
> This fic will have murder/gore in it at some points, and a major character WILL die. If those aren’t for you, please don’t read!!! I’m tagging “dead dove” too just to be safe.

Vanya despises the dress he’s putting her in, but she does enjoy the feeling of him lacing it onto her. She is breathing deep, trying to suck in as much air as possible, wishing that clothing could actually be more comfortable. Though she’s gained a little weight, so that might be what is truly making her struggle. 

Five wraps his arms around her torso, kissing her neck. “All good, dear.”

“Five?” 

“Yes, my love?” 

“Is your wife alright? She’s seemed sickly recently.”

He sighs, “I believe so. Dolores has been asking about you, you know. She misses our little… _trysts.”_

Vanya huffs out a breath of laughter, “Just a bit longer until Father goes back to his own estate, then they can resume.”

She turns back, facing him, holding his hands into her own. “Why _is_ he here, by the way?”

Five rolls his eyes, squeezing her hands, “He’s getting older, as you know, and he’s trying to name me his heir. I offered for him to come to our estate while he gets all of his affairs in order, not thinking he’d actually _come.”_

“I’m just gracious that he hasn’t spoken to me the entire time.” 

Five grins, leaning down to kiss her, “If you stay in your chambers, he won’t at all. I have restricted access to this floor for him, hoping you and Dolores might avoid him.” 

“Would you mind if I went to visit with her?”

“Not at all.” He squeezed her shoulder, mumbling into her ear, “She’s grown quite anxious to see you, you know. She’s quite fond of you.” 

“Aren’t you both?”

He laughs, leaving her behind with one last glance. Vanya walks to Dolores’s chambers, hands pressed to her sides. She glances up with a smile when she gets to her, laying down against her fainting couch, and Vanya notices how she’s painted her lips and rouged her cheeks, trying to give off the appearance of health. 

“Vanya, my dear, could you close the door behind you?” She doesn’t greet her; they hardly ever greet one another. Even though one might assume there was contention between them, Vanya being her husband’s mistress, they loved one another dearly. Vanya was just as much his wife as Dolores, and she tends to think of them all as one functioning unit. “There is a matter we must discuss.”

She nods, walking forward to her and kneeling beside her. “What is it, Dolores?”

Her hands move abruptly to her torso, and Vanya feels her face begin to burn. “I know you’re with child, Vanya. You _know_ he needs an heir.”

“What are you suggesting?” 

“We could pretend the child is mine.” Dolores runs her palms over the Tulle dress, strained from her growing size. “They’d consider your child a bastard, but, if we pretend it’s mine, the child would take all of Lord Hargreeves’s fortune.” 

“You could just call him Five, you know, it’s just us here.”

Dolores sighs, leaning over to press their foreheads together. “I won’t live much longer, I’m afraid. However, at the very least, I could give a good life to our child.”

“What will we do if I become pregnant again? After you’ve passed on?” 

“He will _not_ marry again, that is certain. We hope that this child is male, and then we will not have to worry about the others as much. The daughters could be married off into wealthy homes, or, ideally, the children would all live in the estate after we’ve all passed on.” 

Vanya wraps her arms around her, “Will you be alright? To claim the child as yours? You’d have to pretend your illness was due to carrying them.” 

“It will be fine, I only worry for your sake.” 

Vanya shakes her head, “Don’t worry at all. I’d like the child to have as good of a life as possible, and there is no way Five and I could ever marry. Not by law, at the very least.” 

“He considers you his wife, you know, nonetheless,” Dolores offers, knowing that it is all she _could_ offer, but it is enough for Vanya. It has to be enough. 

“You haven’t seen Reginald at all, right?”

Dolores grimaces, “Not really, no. He has always frightened me, and Five told me that we had his blessing to not seek out Reginald at all.”

“I hope that he will leave soon,” Vanya mutters; Dolores nods in agreement. Her lady’s maid walks in then, carrying a tray with food for them both, likely aware that Vanya would be there today. Vanya pours herself a cup of tea and nibbles at some fruit, not really hungry but knowing she’d get more nauseous if she ate nothing at all. “Five hasn’t told him, though, has he? Of the child?”

“Of course not.” Dolores grabs a piece of dry toast, explaining under her breath that it was all she was able to eat these days before continuing, “Five had barely said anything of it to _me,_ but I could hear you getting sick the other day. Do you know how long it has been?”

“I do not,” Vanya rests a hand against her torso. 

“I promise you to hold out until then,” Dolores tells her, covering her hand with her own. “If anything, we will say I died in childbirth. A relatively normal thing.”

“Do you think that would happen to me?” Vanya asks, panicking. She hadn’t even thought of that possibility before. 

“I certainly hope not. It’s not good to stress, though, go lay down.”

Vanya raises her brow, walking to Dolores and Five’s bed to lay against anyways. “I imagine this has more to do with wanting me on your bed than actually resting.” 

“Don’t tell Five, he might get jealous,” Dolores calls to her, and Vanya grins, leaning against the pillows. “He should be up any moment. His goal was to get rid of Reginald today.” 

“Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

“I wasn’t sure how you’d take… how you’d feel about what we just agreed upon.” 

Vanya rests her hand to her stomach. “It is the best thing for the child.” 

Dolores finishes her breakfast, setting the tray down before walking over and climbing on the bed beside her. They press close together, breathing in one another’s air. The rouge on her cheeks rubs against the mattress, but neither of them comment on it. Vanya touches her cheek, telling her, “And the child is yours too, Dolores. We are our own family, you know.” 

Dolores glances down, looking crestfallen. “He never wanted an heir, unless it was yours. Five only ever even agreed to marry me when I told him that I would expect him to stay with you. I don’t think he loves me as he does you.” 

“He loves you,” Vanya argues. “And, of course it’s not entirely the same. I have been his family since I was born. That is not your fault.” 

“It’s my fault that I’m unable to carry a child,” Dolores whispers. 

Vanya kisses her, “That’s not true either.” 

They lay against one another, both sad for different reasons. Vanya wishes that Dolores had been able to carry children, but, more than anything, she wishes that she didn’t have the knowledge that she’d surely die within the next five years.

Just as she notices that she had drifted off in Dolores’s arms, Five’s voice fills the air, “He is gone.” 

Dolores, asleep, does not respond, but Vanya sits up, reaching out for him. He ambles over to her, seeing her on his bed for the first time in a short while, kissing her lips before he kisses her torso. “Would you like to go on a walk for a little bit? Nobody is around.” 

By that he means, nobody will be around that cares about their relationship. She smiles at him, taking his hand. He glances at Dolores’s sleeping form, seemingly deciding to leave her, before he turns his gaze on her. 

“I’d like to go to the gardens,” he tells her, touching her hair lightly before pulling away. “We could at least have a semblance of privacy there, as well.”

“Father is for sure gone?”

“Yes, dear,” he tugs the strands until her hair is completely down. There’s no propriety within the gesture, but the people who regularly live within the house all know. They also know to keep their mouth shut. “It’s a shame you slept most of the day. You look so lovely in this dress.”

“I despise it.”

He chuckles, “I know. You’re welcome to wear whatever you’d like now that Father is gone, though, Vanya.” 

She smiles, adopting a sultry quality to her voice, “Could I then, perhaps, wear nothing at all?”

He raises his brows, “Don’t you worry about the chill?”

“It is autumn, Five.” 

“Very well.”

This wasn’t the first time. Their staff had learned to seal their lips at _all_ impropriety within the confines of these grounds, and they would undoubtedly not mention this, either. Five unlaced her dress and corset, leaving only her stockings against her legs. He lifts her up easily, almost completely bare over his shoulders, and she giggles loudly. Vanya waves to Dolores’s sleeping form, holding onto Five as well as she can in her position.

When a voice greets them downstairs, saying, ‘Lord Hargreeves’ with forced casualness, Five responds impatiently, not wanting to handle whatever the person wants. 

“Is now not an agreeable time to speak?” The voice sounds somewhat familiar, but she cannot tell why. 

“No, Peabody, it’s obviously not. Vanya and I wish to be alone.” 

“I imagine you’ll appreciate spending as much time with her as you can before we marry.” 

Vanya nearly gasps as Five’s entire body tenses. “No matter what my father told you,” Five spits out. “That will not happen at all.”

“It’s been decided already, Lord Hargreeves.”

“I would kill you before you took her,” Five says, shifting his weight before walking to the courtyard. He calls out behind him when they’re almost out of earshot, “And I might do so already, for suggesting it in the first place.”

When they reach the gardens, Vanya asks what Peabody meant.

Five purses his lips, “Father is trying to marry you off.” 

Vanya gasps, “Why would he do that?”

“He’s not fond of our… reputation.” Five lays her against a stone bench, spreading her legs and exposing her to him completely. “It will not happen, my love. You mustn’t worry.” 

“What if Peabody gets his way?” Vanya whispers, meekly staring down. “Is he a good man at least?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Five growls, crouching down in front of her, inches from her core. “I will not let him near enough to you that you could possibly find out.” 

“He sounded like he’s already made a deal with Father.” 

Five shakes his head, “Father will not agree to it unless he had enough reason. For the most part, nobody outside of these walls knows the nature of ours and Dolores’s relationship. Dolores would tell nobody, and I don’t believe any of our staff would, either. You will not leave us, and we will hide you away if we even suspected somebody might try to take you.” He places one of her legs over his shoulder, kissing her exposed thigh, where the stockings have just cut off. “Besides, my child is inside of you, Vanya. Even if you _wanted_ to go with him, I wouldn’t let my child be raised by another man.” 

She pats his head, combing through his hair with her fingers, “I wouldn’t want that either, Five.” 

He presses his face to her core, inhaling deeply. “I’ve missed you, Vanya,” he tells her before he nudges his tongue inside of her, gathering up the slickness as it forms. Her fingers knot in his hair, tugging the strands as she grinds against his face. 

“It’s been too long,” Vanya whimpers. “Please don’t let him take me.” 

Five’s tongue moves more insistently then, and she could feel her thighs scratching up from the stone underneath her. She doesn’t ask him to relent, and he doesn’t do it without asking. The pain is okay for right now, it is grounding. 

They are not going to leave one another; Vanya won’t allow it and her husband will not either. She and Five had chosen one another, long ago, and Dolores had chosen them. Their family would stay intact, and they would do whatever it took to ensure that. 

When he moves his head up, chin wet, she works blindly at his trousers until he is freed enough to where he could push himself inside of her. She palms against his erection, watching his eyes roll back as he does, thrusting into her hand. Even though she feels relaxed and not as desperate as before, she wants him inside of her. Her legs spread out for him, glancing up at him with her mouth agape. Five takes no time in spearing into her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders to keep them both steady. Inch by inch he moves forward until he’s bottomed out inside of her, and she kisses him, silently thanking him for the feeling of being full. 

They pause for a moment, having waited for each other just a little too long, wanting to savor the feeling. “Father will not take this away from us,” Five promises, rolling his hips just a little, stretching her out more. “I will not allow it.” 

“I love you,” she gasps into his skin, and then he’s pulling out just a little to rock forward again. Her body quivers underneath him, nails digging into his forearms, asking him to be rougher, quicker. Five follows her requests, and then they’re both gasping. His moans are lovely to her, a sound that reminds her of who she is to him. A reminder that she is his and he is hers. 

Vanya’s eyes scan their estate, seeing the beautiful place that it was, knowing it will always be her home. If they have to kill for her to never leave it, they will. Inadvertently, she runs her hand along her torso, and Five’s pace gentles, remembering. When Dolores had been pregnant before losing a few, he’d been gentle too. She closes her eyes, savoring the slow movements just as much. 

Her cunt clenches around him abruptly, and she mutters that she loves him while he continues moving inside of her. By the time he’s filling her completely with his cum, she can feel herself wanting to drift again. The sun is starting to fall, and she hopes he’ll take her up to their bedroom to lay with Dolores. She needs them tonight, and she imagines they need her as well. 

When Five starts to carry her, he promises that she’ll not have to worry at all, that he’ll keep their family safe. As they reach their chambers, Five laying her down in between where he and Dolores would sleep, she kisses him and tells him that he never has to worry of the faith he has in her. 

She doesn’t know that the world would still slight her, even if she trusted him completely.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’d like to thank Chev for holding me accountable lmao. 🙏🏻

Sunlight emerges from the window over his wives’ bodies when he awakens, and he lazily watches them both, wishing to shake them awake but not doing so. Dolores has been ill for ages, and he doesn’t ever try to awaken her. Usually, this meant waking Vanya and spending time with her, but, as she’s with child, he doesn’t attempt to do so now. He presses a kiss to both of their foreheads, stretching his limbs off of their bed. 

As he begins to search through his wardrobe for clothing, he feels familiar arms wrap around him. 

“You ought to be resting, my love,” Five remarks, clutching her small hand a few moments before turning around. “It is best for our child that you remain at utmost health, dear Vanya.” 

“Would you stay with us today, Five?” Her voice is small as she speaks, tracing patterns along his stomach. She never calls him by his given name, knowing he doesn’t wish to associate with their father. Ever since they were young, he has existed to her as  _ Five,  _ not as Reginald V. He often commands that be referred to as Lord Five to his staff and the people that come to his home, but he’ll hear Lord Reginald occasionally and force down the urge to wince. 

He wants nothing more than to spend the day with the two people he loves more than anything, who actually genuinely care for him in turn, but he worries if it’ll be reported back to Reginald, by the man he’s planted into their estate, Leonard. 

Soon, Five would kill him, but he has to bide his time, for just a little bit. He doesn’t want to do anything that would hurt either Dolores or Vanya, and he worries about the repercussions for their sake. 

Vanya is persistent, not having interacted with him much at all during the time that Five was handling Reginald’s visit. She pleads to him, “Just this once?” 

“Peabody will report back to him, my love. Lament to our father that I’ve neglected the estate in favor of the sins we commit on my marital bed.”

“To be fair,” Vanya remarks, sinking down to her knees. “I believe Dolores partakes in the sins most every time. Or, at the very least, a significant portion of times.”

“I don’t know if I’d agree,” Five tells her, fastening her mouth over his arousal. “Much of the time is spent sinning outside of the bed itself, I’d argue.” 

She pulls away a second, just to giggle. 

He will forget about working today, for the rest of the day. It is important to devote some of his time to them, and, if Leonard reports to Reginald about it, at the very least he deserves something quite scandalous indeed. It  _ has _ been too long a while since Dolores, Vanya, and himself had all been together. He will delight in them getting to all reunite once again. 

“Is this a yes?” Vanya asks when he starts to pet her hair again. “Will you spend the day with us?” 

“I have promised you both that I would do whatever it took to ensure your joy, my dear. If it brings you joy, it is my duty as your husband. My honor is at stake, you know.” 

She closes her mouth around him in response. He continues to stroke his sister’s hair, promising that he will try his best to spend more time with them both as her tongue runs along the length of him. When he feels his stomach beginning to coil, he gently pulls her off of him, not wanting to finish until his wives were taken care of, not when it had been so long for them all to be together. 

Vanya does not object when he lifts her up by her elbows, carrying her over to the bed. She is unclothed, so he does not have to work through a corset or unlace one of the large dresses she wore around the house. As he cups her heat, nothing separates them at all. He nudges her back before he plunges a digit inside of her, savoring the way she soaks it immediately. 

“No matter how many times I touch you, dear sister,” Five comments, adding another finger and stretching her open, wanting to see her fully on display for him. “From the moment you first drenched my hands years ago, I have never tired of your lovely little cunt.”

She moans underneath him, loud enough that Dolores stirs. When she sees the two of them, she smiles sleepily, peering over where his fingers are buried inside of his sister. “I believe you are touching our Vanya incorrectly, my dear.”

He smirks, aware where this is going. “Precisely how am I supposed to touch her?”

She spreads Vanya’s legs more fully, leaning down quickly to kiss her inner thigh. When her hand moves up, a hiss escapes Vanya’s throat, begging them both to keep touching her. Five makes no attempt to move, awaiting Dolores’s command. 

Dolores settles down on her stomach, tweaking Vanya’s pebbled nipples and resting her hand atop her torso, swollen only a faint amount but still indicating her pregnancy. When Vanya sucks in another breath, her hand finally meets Five’s, guiding his movements where she wanted them most. 

They both watch, entranced, as she trembles underneath them. As soon as Dolores pulls away, laying beside Vanya, his sister leans over to kiss his wife, tongue slipping inside of her mouth. He watches in fascination as Dolores’s hand dips between her thighs after she pulls away, touching herself as she bluntly commands Five how to touch Vanya.

Five follows every order obediently, both for the sharp intakes escaping Vanya and the way Dolores’s skin doesn’t look as pallid as it has the past few weeks. Perhaps they will be lucky, and she’ll have five, ten years to come. 

He doesn’t think he’s that fortunate, but he would like to believe. 

After Vanya’s walls have clenched around his fingers, she requests that Dolores climb on top of him. She smiles, easily following the request, straddling Five with her legs on either side of him. Vanya’s lips are his neck, cuddled beside him as he lays down on his back, watching Dolores adjust herself until she is comfortable. 

As she begins to rock forward, he groans, both from the sensation of Dolores wet around him and Vanya’s lips trailing down until they are scraping against his nipple. Her small hand reaches down to pinch his ass, and he closes his eyes, just trying to take in the feeling of the two women he loved so dearly getting him off. 

“Open your eyes, my lord,” Vanya mumbles in his ear, and he breathes in sharply, eyes opening wide, glancing over to her until she tilts his head up to Dolores. 

She bites down on her lip, taking his much larger hands in her own, pulling them up until they cup the breasts he can’t stop staring at, transfixed at the way they move. If it hadn’t been so long for them all, they might have teased him for the action, but they’re both just as affected by this experience as him. Vanya’s leg has wrapped around her torso while she grinds herself weakly against him, seeking out her own pleasure. 

He moves one hand away from Dolores to fuck Vanya with his fingers again, and Dolores reaches down to touch herself in time with his movements. It only takes Vanya telling them both that she loves them as she comes before he is spilling inside of Dolores, watching her furiously circle her hand until she clenches around him and prolongs the feeling longer for him. 

As she and Vanya both collapse on top of him, he kisses the tops of their heads until they're practically purring above him. He pulls the covers over all of their bodies, stroking Vanya’s hair while she starts kissing Dolores again. 

“Will you be spending the day with us?” Dolores asks finally. They adjust themselves so that they are both resting their chin on either of his shoulders and his hands are curled behind either of their backs. 

“I certainly will.”

She laughs, kissing his jaw. “Because you’d like to do that again?”

“Among other things,” he jokes. 

Vanya’s fingers pull at his chest hair. “You promise not to leave us until tomorrow?”

“You have my world, though we should likely take some time to eat breakfast. Vanya carries our child now, and we must be certain she’s eating plenty for it.” 

Dolores and Vanya share a smile that he figures is significant, but he doesn’t try to argue with them. His wife’s lady’s maid will come soon, and she will be certain to bring something for all of them. Dolores’s appetite has likely not grown at all, but he hopes she’ll be able to eat a full meal again today. 

“Vanya told me of what transpired with Peabody after you’d fallen asleep, Five,” Dolores mentions, and he can feel his mood start to sour. “You are aware that you must tell Vanya and I what exactly your father arranged for them, correct?”

“No matter what they arranged, it does not matter,” Five bites out, not meaning to sound cold to either of them, but he keeps thinking of the bastard’s arrogant face, claiming he would take Vanya away from Dolores and himself. They’d not been there when Reginald had come to their estate with Peabody at his side, informing Five brusquely that she was to marry him within the next three fortnights. 

He would be dead before the next two, if Five’s plans went accordingly. 

“Five, it is my life, you’re aware. I have a right to know.” Vanya’s voice had been meek when they were young, but she speaks with confidence and power now, holding all of the dignity of one of the ladies of this home. “You are to tell us  _ now.”  _

He sighs, knowing that it is best not to argue with her when she uses this tone. “Father arranged that you marry him within the next month.” 

They both made equally scandalized noises. 

“I obviously will not let that happen,” he adds, unnecessarily. In the time he has loved the two of them, he has shown nothing but utmost loyalty to them both. 

“There is no way to fight it, not with Father having given me over to him,” Vanya whispers. 

“Then I will kill both Father  _ and  _ Peabody, my love. Do not fret, it cannot be good for the child.” 

“He is right in that regard,” Dolores points out, tone back to exhausted. The conversation seems to have drained all of her energy completely. “Vanya, we will hide you away if it is necessary. I would never let you marry such an odious man, which I assume him to be if Reginald had been the one to select him.” 

“How would you even stop it?” Vanya asks miserably. 

“As Five said, we would kill them both, and we would keep killing until you were not threatened at all. In my condition, I imagine I wouldn’t be quite the-”

“Absolutely not,” Five interrupts quickly before Dolores can finish her sentence, horrified by his ill wife even imagining such things when she’d collapsed after just attempting to walk up the stairs last month. “When it comes to killing, I will take care of it all. I would slit Peabody’s and Father’s throats, make it clean enough that it doesn’t leave too much of a mess for the staff.” 

“I just worry that Father will find out somehow,” Vanya says quietly. “Wouldn’t it be better that I marry Peabody if it meant keeping our family safe?”

“Our family would  _ not _ be safe if it meant you and the child were with Peabody,” Dolores growls, making Five glance at her in bewilderment. She’d always been much more delicate, mild-mannered and polite enough that had allowed Father to accept Five’s decision to marry her, not realizing she loved both Vanya and himself when he’d given the estate to them. To hear her speak with so much anger and conviction now tells Five that she is unsettled as himself at the concept of Peabody trying to steal her from them, and he finds it only makes him love her more, that she’d protect Vanya too. “If that man lays a hand on her at all, I expect you to kill him immediately, Five.” 

Vanya makes a small noise. “What if he hurts either of you?”

At the same time, Dolores says, ‘I’m dying anyways’ and Five says, ‘I wouldn’t allow it.’ 

They both glance at Dolores sadly. She’d been sickly as a young girl, getting sickly again as an adult. She’s right, technically, that she’s dying, but Five doesn’t like to ever think about it. 

“All I want is to make it long enough that the child will inherit the estate,” Dolores announces, abruptly changing the subject, though not to a topic any of them wish to hear about, either. “If I last that long, I will consider it a blessing.”

“Dolores-” Vanya starts, but she cuts her off with a sharp shake of her head. 

“I will die, Vanya, and  _ soon.  _ But I refuse to leave until I know our child is taken care of, and our affairs are in order.”

“How will we keep anybody from knowing the child is mine and not yours?” Vanya asks her. 

“Dolores is ill in the first place,” Five points out. “She hasn’t attended any public events in years. We will say the child was a miraculous turn of events, that she is excited to be a mother. Assuming that is alright with you both. I have no qualms announcing to the world that the child belongs to my sister and myself, though.”

Dolores and Vanya laugh. When he frowns, Vanya tells him, “Of course you have no qualms with it, though the entire country might be scandalized from such a confession.”

“It will have been worth it for that alone.” 

They all begin to laugh, and the air fills with levity again. Five soaks in the knowledge that he will take care of them both. No matter what it takes, he will ensure that their family will never suffer. He will protect them, even though he knows what it means. 

Soon, he would kill Leonard Peabody and likely his father. He doesn’t mind the thought, knowing it is to keep his family protected. More than anything, he worries for Dolores’s illness, for Vanya’s health while she is with child. He cannot bear to lose either of them, even though he knows Dolores does not have much longer at all. 

It was all the more reason to kill the people trying to take Vanya away from him. For he could not survive if he lost all of his family all at once. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!!!💕💕💕💕💕💕 I will update this when I next get the chance💕💕💕💕


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost to the halfway point!!! I know this isn’t a particularly popular fic, but I’ve had a lot of fun writing it so far!!! I have this fully outlined, so it’s just a matter of writing it at this point!!!💕

Leonard Peabody stands in front of her, and she resists the urge to flinch. She wonders where Five is, but she is aware that he would never leave her behind with this man, that he’d be here any second. 

“It comes as quite a surprise,” the man remarks, reaching for a teacup and serving himself a glass. “That someone as plain as you is worth to your brother losing all of  _ this.” _

Despite the fact that she’d tried to hold back on it before, she cannot help but flinch now, setting her hands over her stomach and trying to imagine that she is  _ anywhere  _ else. Her eyes flick up to the doorway again, seeking out Five’s comfort, hoping that he would come to the room through sheer force of will. 

“After all, when I marry you, I at least get something from it. Your father has promised me to be more wealthy than this, even. Do you know  _ why,  _ my dear?”

Her nails dig into her hands, forming crescent moons into her skin. She has bit her lip raw. 

“You and your brother have caused a  _ blight  _ on your family name. Rumors have been spreading for years.” He glances down at her torso, swollen with pregnancy. “At the very least, you could pretend it was through no will of your own. That he made advances on you, and you were younger, feeble, and of the fairer sex.”

Though she is very afraid of the man, what he is implying is simply too much for her. “Everything that my brother and I have done together,” she growls. “Has been through  _ every  _ will of our own. Though you may not understand this, I love him, and he loves me.”

“Then why has he agreed to let you be married off?”

She flinches again, just as Five finally settles down beside her. When he starts to take her hand under the table, her arm jerks away from him, like he has burned her. 

Five’s eyes harden, and she realizes his vision is aimed at Leonard. “If you mean to say that I agreed to the timeline my father set out for her, Peabody, yes I did agree. However, do not think for one second you’ll be alive by then.”

Vanya makes a small noise, but she doesn’t reject him when he reaches for her again. 

“You will  _ not _ marry my little sister, Peabody. Do not attempt to fool her. Many times in our lives have we  _ agreed  _ to our father’s terms, meaning something else entirely. Attempting to understand a Hargreeves, when you are not one, will never work at all. In  _ every  _ regard.”

Leonard shakes his head. “It does not matter what you  _ wish.  _ I would just marry her sooner. Though I may not understand your family, I do understand high society. Vanya here is pregnant, unwed, with what I imagine to be her brother’s bastard. If that information got out, your sister would lose  _ everything  _ outside of this house. Everybody would know her for the whore she is, and you’d be forcing her to live her life as a hermit.”

She clenches Five hand, not letting him move. By the way his jaw is working and the coldness in his eyes, she imagines he would have killed Leonard if she wasn’t holding onto him, silently urging him to do nothing. 

This man has the knowledge of her child. If he tells anybody, the baby would lose all of this, being unable to inherit his father’s estate. At the very least, she needs to hear what the man has to  _ say _ before Five kills him. 

“What is your point, Leonard?” she asks, knowing Five would never ask for him to elaborate on any of this.

His lips curl into a smile. The feigned kindness on his face scares her more than when he’d been making venomous remarks of her family. The deception he shows on his face now alerts her to the fact that he can at least  _ appear  _ as a morally upstanding man. Appearances were everything to her father, and it is likely why he chose Leonard in the first place. Callous and cruel enough to succumb to her father’s ghastly will and  _ appreciate  _ it, yet he is capable of appearing a gentleman that only wishes to take care of his betrothed. Even though she loves Five with all of her heart, she knows that, simply for the sake of what they  _ are _ to one another, they’d never be looked upon fondly if they were to ever be open about the nature of their relationship. 

“I will say the child is mine,” Leonard finally offers, and his voice mimics the softness that Five gave her every night, except she can clearly see that this man’s eyes hold none of the gentleness her brother’s would when speaking with that tone. “The kid would inherit your father’s fortune, should it be a boy.”

“Why would a child that comes from you and I inherit my father’s fortune?” Vanya asks, voice filled with skepticism. Five is tense beside her, and she has a feeling he already knows the answer to this. 

“Your father is willing to name me his heir, rather than Lord Hargreeves, on the condition that I marry you and expel the incestuous ‘rumors’ that plague his family name. As Lord Hargreeves already has tremendous wealth of his own, he does not worry that his son will suffer at all. Though I suppose all of his businesses might fail if his customers knew what he does to his sister each night, but nobody will  _ ever _ have to know that. Not if you become my wife, that is.”

“Why do you even  _ want  _ me as your wife?”

“I will not pretend to say that I care for you at all. Quite frankly, you disgust me, and I don’t think that I would ever touch a woman that lets her brother use her body this way. However, your father’s wealth would be more than enough to swallow down the disgust I would feel in calling you my wife. Really, I wouldn’t even care if you kept up… whatever this is, with your brother. On the condition that you keep bearing him children, you will call them ours.”

“And you just expect me to believe that if I accept this offer you’ll tell nobody of Five and I’s relationship? Tell nobody of our baby? Do you think that I would not be the least bit  _ suspicious  _ that you’re willing to let this go, without threatening me in the future?”

“Oh, no. I do not think you to be so simple. Not yet at least. I just am  _ counting  _ on the fact that you’d spend our marriage knowing that at any second I could ruin your life completely, for it would make you a much better wife if you knew to succumb to my will.” 

Vanya opens her mouth, wishing to speak again, but Five hand tightens on her own. He had listened when she’d silently asked him not to reach over and throttle Peabody, so she supposes she must return the favor by not letting Peabody speak any longer of his offers. 

“I will let you ruminate, my dear Vanya. Just know that this offer can only last a little longer. With how swollen your stomach has gotten, we'll have to elope as is.”

After Peabody leaves, Five’s hold on her hand softens again, but she does not say a word to him, trying to sort out all of the thoughts racing through her head.

* * *

There had been a very brief moment when Vanya had thought Dolores was getting better, that she was finally nearing a point where her illness would drift away again. She’d been sickly as a child as well, but she’d gotten better through her teen years and the first stretch of time after marrying Five. Only when she’d gotten sick again had Vanya thought their lives would not always be as blissful as that first year. 

Dolores glances up at Vanya when she nears the bed, asking how she is. Vanya doesn’t imagine that she’ll be able to live through her entire pregnancy. Then again, she supposes she hadn’t doubted their plan until Leonard Peabody had spoken to her downstairs earlier today. 

“I am feeling quite alright,” Dolores says, but her voice is weak. “Might last another ten years, yet.”

“You don’t have to spare my feelings, Dolores. It is alright to tell me that you are in pain.”

She shakes her head, and Vanya notices she hasn’t even bothered to put on any rouge against her cheeks, to at least offer the  _ appearance _ of health. “How is the child?” Dolores asks. “Has it started kicking yet?”

Vanya smiles, reaching for Dolores’s hand and settling it on her stomach. “Yes,” she tells her, though she’d already answered her question for her with the gesture.

“Does Five know?” She keeps her hand on Vanya, feeling the child puttering around, a delighted expression on her face.

“He does.” Vanya sits down beside her, “But… I do not imagine that he will be joining us tonight.”

“Why not?” Dolores asks, a concerned wrinkle forming between her brows.

She glances down, not meeting the woman’s gaze. “I am considering marrying Leonard Peabody.”

A horrified gasp leaves the woman’s mouth as she jerks her hand away. “Why would you even  _ suggest  _ such a thing?”

Five had had the exact same reaction. She says the same thing she’d said to him. “I wasn’t the one to suggest it. My father was. The only reason I would go through with it is to assure that my family had a good life.”

“We would never have a good life without you, especially without the child. Ignoring that, though, what do you think he is going to do when I’m dead and you’re gone?”

Vanya has never heard her speak in this tone before, at least not with it directed at her. A sob works its way into her throat, but she does not respond, except to say, “I’ve already thought about that, Dolores. Why would you imply that I haven’t?”

Before Dolores can answer, she leaves Five and Dolores’s chambers, walking to her own. Perhaps she’ll just spend the rest of the night staring out the window in solitude. 

When she makes to lay down on her bed, she is surprised at the sight of Five already within it. 

“What are you doing here?” Though she is stunned that he’d come to her bed without telling her he intended to do so, she is not  _ mad _ about it. Her arms wrap around his torso, holding onto him for once when most of their lives it had been him holding onto her. “Are you alright, Five?”

Five sighs, grasping her hands. “I’m sorry I was cross with you earlier. That was unfair of me. I know that you would only… you would be doing it for our family, but I cannot fathom losing you.  _ Or _ our child.”

“But you understand, with what he was saying, why I would—”

He turns around, so that they are facing one another. “Yes, Vanya. I do understand.”

“I worry that Dolores might die soon.”

Five raises his brows, not arguing with her. She realizes that he is waiting for her to speak, and she clears her throat quickly. 

“Her condition only worsens each day, Five. I do not believe that she will last through the pregnancy, and, in the case of her death, we will lose all protections for the child. She is upset with me, and I am certain that is why.”

“I do not think she is upset with you,” Five murmurs. “Perhaps she is just stressed, with all that is occurring.”

All that he did not  _ have _ to be around for. His life would not truly be changed if she was gone, or if Dolores died. Five would never be penniless, like his child might. 

When he kisses her, she does not know if it is the bitterness that Dolores had scorned her before or the realization that Five does not really need either of them, could find somebody else just as easily, but she finds that her heart is not in it as it usually is. He stops, realizing. “Are you alright, Vanya?”

“I am not.”

“Is there something I can do to help you?”

“You could listen to me when I suggest that something is wrong, rather than dismissing me immediately.” She turns her back to him, not wanting to argue any longer. “It’s not like  _ you  _ have anything to worry about, Five.”

She can tell he is resisting the urge to yell, likely not wanting to do anything to upset her further. His voice is terse as he asks, “What are you implying?”

“When Dolores dies, your life will be relatively unchanged. If I leave with Leonard, your life will be relatively unchanged. You are acting like you’re going to suffer the most, but you won’t.”

“You think that I  _ want  _ this to happen?”

“I think that you have the lowest stakes in this, and that you got upset with me for suggesting that I go with that man because you were jealous, not that he would do awful things to me.”

When he doesn’t respond for a few moments, clearly beginning to lose his calm, she is aware that she is acting unfair. It does not matter to her, though. She is upset, and he is there. 

“Are you suggesting that the  _ only  _ reason that I care that you and our child might go to that man is because I am  _ jealous  _ of him?”

“Why else would you care?” she spits. “You could find another person to be with just as easily.”

He pulls her towards him. Even though she is aware he is upset, she would never be able to tell by the gentle way he touches her. When his eyes meet hers, they are imploring, “Vanya, you are  _ irreplaceable.  _ I want to make it clear that I am  _ not  _ upset about Leonard out of jealousy, Vanya. First of all, I do not think there is anything to be jealous of with a man that is approved of by our father. Of more importance, though, I simply do not want you  _ or  _ our child to get hurt, and I worry that he would hurt either of you the second that you are not proven useful to him any longer.”

“I don’t think Dolores feels this way.” 

“Then I will talk to her.”

“You would side with me over your wife?”

Five doesn’t answer. The question is perhaps the most unfair thing she has said at all tonight. She knows that putting him in the position of answering that question breaks an unspoken rule between all of them, but she is upset with Dolores more than she has ever been before. Maybe it was because she’d suggested that Five’s feelings were the most important to her if Vanya chose to leave, or maybe it is the fact that Vanya is experiencing some of the common struggles of being with child. 

“I’m sorry,” she murmurs, laying her head down. 

Five shakes his head. “Don’t be. You know that I would side with you over her, always, Vanya, and you know that saying that out loud is wrong of me.” 

“I know.” 

He pulls her to him, pressing himself against her. She grabs his hand, guiding it between her legs. An appreciative grunt leaves his lips as he hardens against her. “I would say it again, though, dear sister.”

She knows that too. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!!💕💕 Updates will happen when they happen!!


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